Operation Deutschland
by Ski000Girl
Summary: Sequel to Roses & Thorns. Hermione has fled to Germany and promised Draco she'd owl him. Now three months have passed with no letter so Draco sets off for the continent to find her. In her apartment what he finds is not what he every dreamed of uncovering
1. Europe

a/n This is for all of you that wanted a happy ending/sequal/epiloque. Now I don't know if you're going to get the happy ending you were hoping for because I honestly don't know where this is going to go. It's going to be completely unplanned. Wish me luck and enjoy and thanks for sticking with me.

xxx.:.x.

The sound of rushing water met his ears as he stormed through the intricate expanse of landscaped grounds. It had been three months since he'd persuaded her to walk away from her wedding. She had and promised to owl him when she got settled into her new life. He knew it didn't take three months to get adjusted to a new life.

He'd finally had enough, waited long enough. He was not going to let her control things anymore. He was going to take matters into his own hand. To do so meant he'd go and find her. Leave England for the continent and the unknown where he wouldn't leave until he'd found her.

Across the tiled patio and through the opened class doors he walked. The turning point for him had been a short note that he'd received by owl post as he went for a walk around the grounds. It had been sent by the only other person who had known about the forbidden relationship between himself and Hermione. The note had been pretty self explanatory, saying _Don't wait around for her because she's to scared to come back. Go find her. _There had been no signature but he knew who had sent it.

It had been the last three words that had thrown him into a panic. Causing him to make a very quick and hopefully not rash decision. He knew to show up on her doorstep would most likely startle her but he hoped it would be enough for her to finally realize he couldn't be apart from her.

Like a thundering heard of centaurs he ran up the stairs. The deep thuds from his shiny shoes coming in contact with the staircase bounced off the walls. He estimated that he could have his stuff together in under five minutes and then he could be off.

He hadn't planned for any problems at home, he'd expected the road blocks to arise when he eventually met up with Hermione in Germany. His mother had other plans.

"Oh Draco I was..."

"Sorry Mother, urgent business to attend to. I might be gone for quite a few days."

"Your Father never mentioned an emergency."

"It's something I'm working on personally through the company, not a joint project."

"Okay," she nodded her understanding. It had been an excuse he'd used countless times before when he had to get away for a bit.

After all of their names had been cleared Lucius had allowed Draco to finally enter the company as his co partner. As for how Lucius managed to escape Azkaban once again Draco had no idea. All he knew was that his future had been looking really grim as he sat in the prisoners chair before the Wizengemot. All of the testimony had been against him. He'd given up all hope until Hermione had walked in and testified on his behalf, going against what every other person had said. With only Hermione's account, the Wizengemot voted in favour of Draco's innocence. He knew that the only reason he wasn't rotting away in a cell was because she had been a member of the acclaimed Golden Trio and the Wizengemot figured that if she was proclaiming a Death Eater's innocence than it must be so. Lucius and Narcissa on the other hand had no such testimony, posing a complete mystery as to their freedom. Draco and the rest of the Wizarding World figured that it had something to do with the extensive vault system in the families name under the streets of London.

"Well where are you going to? Should I tell your Father?"

"No," he barked back impatiently as he tried to step around the woman who was somehow blocking the entire corridor. An amazing feat since she was tall but very skinny.

"Okay, how about...?"

"Just get out of my way," he pushed past her, "it's vital that I get there as soon as possible."

He knew she was trying to stall him, usually she dotted on him. Giving into any of his demands no matter how extreme they were. His only question was how did she discover where he was off to?

In his large chambers he started shoveling anything and everything he laid eyes on into his trunk. Only when he figured he had enough stuff to last him did he close and lock the trunk. Grabbing his traveling cloak which he threw around his shoulders and fastened with the silver snake clasp that had once belonged to his Grandfather. His trunk would fit perfectly once shrunk into the inside pocket.

The next problem that arose for Draco was where he was supposed to apparate to. He knew that the Ministry of Germany was situated in Berlin, but that didn't mean that that was where Hermione was living. She could have been stationed in any number of the large cities throughout the country or any of the small hole in the wall towns. All he knew was that her job posting had been in correspondence with the foreign Ministry. He believed his bet shot would be to go to Berlin, go into the Ministry and ask around. If that failed he would find the Wizard Berlin. He was sure that somebody would have noticed an outsider, especially when she didn't speak the native tongue. The wizard communities were small enough that he knew he would recognize a newcomer if one showed up in London.

With one final look around the spacious room to ensure he hadn't overlooked anything he would need. Pulling out his wand Draco then apparated away.

xxx.:.x.

Up the road she walked, stepping around a small child who had dropped to the ground after dropping it's recently purchased toy wand. As she was passing by the side of the infant its small fist shot out and latched onto the hem of Hermione's cloak, stopping her in her tracks.

"Hi sweetie," she cooed, her heart melting at the sight of the cute little blonde girl.

The girl looked back at her before grabbing her toy and bolting after her parents.

Hermione sighed, she'd forgotten once again about the language barrier. The poor child must have been terrified when a stranger talked to her in words she had never heard before.

Ducking off of the crowded street and into a small restaurant where she was fifteen minutes late for an important meeting with her superiors.

"I'm incredibly sorry, I got lost," she gushed.

"Not a problem, these streets do take a lot of getting used to to navigate through," her co worker Dominic said.

"Well, I'm from London so I should be good at finding my way through confusing roads."

Bringing the lunch meeting back on topic her boss said, "Ms. Granger, I'd like to introduce you to Herr Marc Von Der Berg."

"Hallo, wie sie sind, das land mögend?" Herr Von Der Berg asked the newcomer.

Hermione had become used to not understanding half of what was going on, but it still didn't make her any less uncomfortable. Looking helplessly to her boss for assistance, Alex jumped in and translated, "He welcomes you and asked what you think of the country?"

"Oh I am most sorry," Herr Von Der Berg said, "I just assumed, how silly of me."

"No problem," Hermione laughed uncomfortably.

"We will converse in English then, if that is fine with you?"

"Thanks. It's something I need to learn, it's just so...so different."

The three men surrounding her around the table roared with laughter. Sinking back into her chair Hermione tried to mask her discomfort because she didn't want to look like just one of those stupid foreigners. To make it all worse Marc Von Der Berg was young, probably only a few years older than herself and like most of the German guy's that she had was amazingly hot.

"So Hermione, may I call you that?" Herr Von Der Berg asked politely.

"Of course," she replied.

"Then you must call me Marc."

"Okay."

"So Hermione, before we get down to business may I ask you something?"

"Shoot," he looked at her blankly. His English was almost perfect, but Hermione realized a moment to late that he wouldn't know any slang, "That means talk away," she quickly clarified.

"How much can you actually say in German?"

Now fully embarrassed she could do nothing more than laugh, "Well I can say, Hallo, … Wiedersehen, danke, und bitte."

By now there was no stopping the laughter between the guys at the table.

"It's your fault not mine," Hermione tried to defend herself.

"And how is it ours?" Marc questioned.

"Well first off you guys speak so god damn good English. Whenever anybody hears that I'm English they automatically stop talking in German."

"I thought you couldn't understand it though?"

"I can't, it's just how am I supposed to learn the language if I never hear it?"

"You're right," Alex said, "From now on, we'll only talk in German."

"Slowly?" she asked.

"Ja, langsam."

"You've lost me already."

She loved her job, it was difficult because of the language barrier but everyone was so patient with her. It had been the best decision of her life to get away from England where at work a meeting meant business only. Laughing during a meeting was frowned upon and of course there was one other benefit. There was by no means a shortage of hot German guys.

A waitress came by and pulled out her pad and pen, "Was kann ich für sie bekommen?"

Marc was sitting beside Hermione and he leaned over and said, "She asked..."

"Hey wait a minute," Hermione held up a silencing hand, "I think I've got that one."

Everyone around the table looked at her eagerly.

"She asked what we would like?"

"Ja," Dominic said.

"Well what else could a waitress ask?"

The only thing Alex could do was shake his head.

Everyone ordered and once the waitress had vanished the four people went back to their business. By the time the food came they'd discussed everything they needed to and the files had been packed back into briefcases.

The waitress appeared once more with four steaming plates of food perched on her arms.

"Heiß," Marc leaned over closely to her and whispered into her ear.

"Hot?" Hermione questioned him.

He nodded back.

"I've heard that a few times since arriving."

"I'm sure."

The meal was delicious and because they'd finished all their work stuff they were free to chat about more interesting topics. After they'd finished everyone reluctantly stood up and apparated out of the restaurant to the Ministry. Except for Marc and Hermione.

Hermione thought she was the only one that hadn't left, but when she looked up she was surprised to see Marc waiting for her, "Did you need something?" she questioned him.

"No just waiting for you."

"Oh I'm not heading back to the Ministry," she replied remorsefully.

"No problem, I'll be going then," he turned and was about to walk away when he spun back around, "Do you want to have dinner with me?" When he saw the shocked look on her face he quickly added, "I mean so we could work on your German...or...or..."

She began to panic at that point. She'd just gotten used to being single again. It had been one of the hardest decisions in her life not to owl Draco once she'd settled but she had convinced herself it was for the best. Now was she really ready to get back into the dating scene. Really she had never been in it in the first place. Ron and her had just sort of gone together after the war, and Draco and her I guess you could call it played the game but that had been a long time before.

"Ah Hermione," Marc asked looking worried.

"Sure, after all my German needs all the help it can get right about now."

"Okay then, how about tonight? Oh wait that's really short notice, you're not busy are you?"

Glumly Hermione shook her head, "I'm never busy. If we're being honest here I don't really know anybody. I go from work to home."

"Let's change that then. How about I swing around your place at about six?"

"Sounds good."

"Umm, where do you live?"

She proceeded to explain to him where her flat was and then with an exchange of smiles they both went off in separate directions.

On the way back to her flat Hermione's mind was filled with thoughts of England. It had been awhile since she'd thought of her home, she'd attempted to block all thoughts relating to England because she didn't want to get homesick. Maybe a new guy was just the answer to that. But images of Marc slowly or langsam began to convert into those of Draco. The way his cold as ice eyes still held a twinkle as he would lean into kiss her, or how that perfectly sculpted messy hair of his felt as she ran her fingers through it as he pressed his entire body down on top of her. Shaking her head she tried to rid her brain of the sad thoughts but they wouldn't leave.

Back at her apartment Hermione did everything she could think of to keep herself busy in an attempt to keep her head clear. It worked okay, but still every so often a thought that she didn't want to have would pop into her head. Then she would be reluctantly forced to chase it away. She knew she shouldn't have taken up their offer of the afternoon off. She needed to do something and work kept her busy.

xxx.:.x.

The problem Draco figured wasn't going to be locating where Hermione was staying, it was going to by finding Wizard Berlin. After all it wasn't going to be on any muggle tourist guides map. His plan was to find the Ministry and then pose as a really close relative of Hermione's and try to get out of them her whereabouts. That was plan A but he figured nobody would be to willing to give away any personal information to a complete stranger, so that's why he had a Plan B. Plan B was to find her workspace and wait there until she came. This idea had it's flaws too, because if she wasn't working in the Ministry building itself and was instead out in the field, she would be extremely hard to find.

After he had walked around all of the City Centre of Berlin, Draco finally allowed himself to take a break. A short one though. Sitting on a bench he began to straighten out his options. He could continue to wander around in hopes of finding a clue to how to get into the Wizarding Community or he could owl back to England and get somebody there to tell him where to go. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought to find that information out before he came. Then it hit him, he didn't have an owl. The only way he was going to find an owl to send back to England was if he found the Wizard Community. It was a vicious circle.

Completely out of options he stood back up and went back on his way wandering the random streets.

It had started to get dark and Draco still had no luck. He figured his only option was to give up for the night, find a place to eat and sleep and then resume his search in the morning. Either the German Wizards didn't go out into muggle society often or they were really good at disguising themselves. The few times that Draco had gone into Muggle London he had been able to spot the Wizards easily. They dressed strangely and always managed to look puzzled.

Changing his course he began instead to look for a place to stay. It was amazing what you could stumble over when you weren't searching for it. As Draco was strolling down one of the darker side streets he heard the whispered word Muggle. He'd always thought it to be only an English word, every language would have their own form of the word but he was mistaken for after the whispered word came a spew of words that Draco couldn't understand. Quickly walking towards them before they could get away, Draco had no clue what he was going to say to them, or how he would converse with them if they only spoke German.

When he got closer to the two women they recoiled out of fear and stuck their hands in their pockets that their wands must have been in.

"Evening," Draco greeted them.

"Excuse us," they tried to brush by him but he held out a hand and stopped them, "I'm sorry to have scared you, I just have a question for you."

"I don't know if we'll be able to help you," the shorter of the two women answered in choppy English, "You see we don't know the city all that well."

"No, I wouldn't expect you to know the muggle city very well," Draco through the word in to make them more comfortable.

"Are you...?"

"Yes and I'm looking for your community and Ministry. I'm not from here," he figured that was pretty obvious but oh well.

"Why'd you ever come here and never now how to get into your own world?"

"It was kinda spur of the moment," he explained, "I'd had enough with...well this girl took a job in co operation between the German and British Ministries and she told me she'd owl me when she got settle. That was three months ago."

"That's terrible," they both exclaimed.

Then one of the women said, "This story sounds really familiar."

"What do you mean?" Draco and her friend asked.

"The lady I'm an assistant to came to Germany from England about three months ago."

"What's her name?" Draco asked excitedly. He'd given up on finding his world that day and then by a stroke of luck he'd met two witches that knew how to get into the world but may also know Hermione.

"Frau Granger is what I call her. I think you would say Ms."

"Yeah that sounds right."

"Is that her?" the other asked.

Draco nodded gleefully, "Do you know where she lives."

"I may," she replied as she pulled out a muggle address book, "Here it is, she gave it to me in case I ever needed her for an emergency."

"Thank you so much," Draco gushed as he quickly memorized the address, "So how do you get into your world and where's the Ministry. That's where Hermione is working right, at the Ministry?"

"Ja," the girl nodded.

"Thank you, thank you," Draco had to hold himself back, he wanted to hug the two young women.

"Follow us," they said and then walked off.

Draco raced to keep up with them and at that point it was hard to keep the bounce out of his step. Down a deserted alley they turned and they walked right to the end of it. At the end was a small door that they opened and walked through.

The room they walked through was not a pub like in England, instead it appeared to be deserted. Across the empty hall the three walked. At the bottom of a set of stairs the dirty blonde haired woman who was Hermione's assistant pulled out her wand, "Watch carefully," she said and then placed her wand onto the broken tile floor. One tap on the black tile at the base of the stairs, two on the white beside it and then the next white was given one more tap.

"Come on."

Pushing their way past Draco they then ran up the stairs. At the landing half way to the top they stopped. In front of them a door had appeared.

"Is that it?"

They nodded and then turned the door knob sharply to the right. Once the door was completely pulled open they pushed Draco through. The first thing that caught Draco's attention was a magnificent brick structure that must have been eight stories high.

"Welcome to Berlin's best kept secret. That large building to your left is the ministry. At the end of the street here is the hospital. This street is primarily professional space. The next one over it where I believe you might be interested in. Oh on your left here is the bank but if you have wizard currency that is accepted here. We aren't like the stupid muggles, a different currency everywhere you go."

"Thank you," Draco said although he already knew that fact.

Leading him through the deserted streets they made they turned the corner and everything changed. Music was playing loudly from nowhere. Draco had to remind himself that he was once again safety in a Wizarding World and there was magic. People were out roaming the streets and some were even dancing and singing to the music.

"Now this is the best part of Berlin, our night life."

"I can see," Draco commented.

"There's a couple hotels on this street, restaurants and pubs as well. It's at night that everything really comes alive. One more street over we have all the shops and such."

"Thank you, it's a brilliant idea," Draco had to admit, "In London we have what we call Diagon Alley which is all these shops. Our Ministry is hidden somewhere else in the muggle city and so is our hospital. This, it just makes so much sense."

"Now were you hoping to find a room for tonight?"

"No, I was hoping to go and find Hermione."

"We can take you there, it's on our way."

Backtracking through the small city they made it back out onto the muggle streets in no time. Ten minutes later they had arrived outside of a muggle apartment complex.

"Thank you," Draco repeated once more, "hey what were your names again?"

"Alina," Hermione's assistant replied, "and she's."

"I'm Anika. Will you be fine from here?"

"Yes, thanks again."

"I hope you find what you're looking for."

"I will," strolling into the lobby Draco was amazed at how fancy the place was. Over to the lifts he walked and then remembering Hermione's address punched in the number 14 on the panel. Up into the sky the lift shot and in seconds the door had reopened. Stepping out Draco realized he had to walk to the left. At the very end of the hallway he spotted the door with the correct number on it. In a completely muggle building Draco figured she would have just performed a basic locking spell. He was right because alohamore released the lock with a click. Swinging open the door at the same time the clock chimed, eight times.

Realizing Hermione wasn't home he began a quick search of the place. It was indeed her place because he saw a few of her personal belongings scattered over surfaces. Sitting down to wait on the sofa in the living room he may have dozed off. Waking up his mouth was dry and he walked into the kitchen and found a glass. With his wand in his hand he didn't bother walk over to the sink. Instead he pointed it at the empty glass and it magically filled itself.

Draco looked at the clock and noticed that it read 10:30. Had he really slept that long? At that moment Draco heard the door open. Stepping out of the kitchen his eyes were horrified to see her in the arms of and kissing another man.

xxx.:.x.

a/n Well I promised a sequel and at the time I didn't have a clue what to right about. I thought it was going to be brief, he'd go get her, they'd get back together...you know the usual junk but then as I was writing this things just started to take their own course. Something that hadn't happened at all in Roses and Thorns. That story I knew exactly where it was going to end and what things had to happen. Nothing was spontaneous there. Here on the other hand I was delight to find this chapter began to write itself. It may have had something to do with me going back and reading on of my original stories The Unexpected and the name truly fits that story because I would sit down to write and not have a clue what to do and amazing ideas would come. I found after rereading that that I really missed the unpredictable element of writing and so I sat down and wrote this. I hope you enjoyed it and I hope I've got your attention enough that you'll continue reading and review. Thanks.


	2. Intruders

Time stopped for Draco as he witnessed the strangers hands work their way through her mass of hair which she had styled into large looping curls. His knees began to shake and his palms grew sweaty as they clutched his wand as if it were a life line. The only remnants of a ship that had long since disappeared. This was the first time Draco had ever been on the receiving end of what he was witnessing. In the past he had always been the guy that had drawn the girl away from her boyfriend, only to have their actions discovered. It was karma, cruel karma. And making matters worse was that when he caught a short glimpse of the man she was attached to he became instantly jealous. Something that he'd never experienced in his life, for Draco Malfoy was always the most attractive male in the room.

Seconds ticked by and it was obvious they hadn't heard the intruder in the flat and Draco momentarily considered leaving things that way. He'd just silently retreat back into the kitchen and apparate home, forgetting the whole thing. That would be the cowardly thing to do and while Draco was a lot of things he was proud to say that he wasn't a coward, anymore. Those days were behind him he vowed. He would no longer run in the opposite direction or hide from something that could not be hid from. It would do no good to anyone.

With that in mind Draco let the glass he was holding slide from his grasp. With a loud crash it shattered into a thousand pieces, sending glass and water flying everywhere. It was enough for the couple to separate, hastily draw their wands and point them at Draco. The man Draco noticed began to advance on him but Hermione must have noticed it as well because she placed a reassuring hand on his outstretched arm, stopping him in his tracks.

Right away Draco regretted not taking the easy escape, from the look on Hermione's face what was to come was by no means going to be what he had hopped it to be.

"Draco?" she whispered.

He couldn't tell if she was angry, upset or just plain sad. Her companion's expression was easier to read. With all the testosterone pumping through him, he was evidently angry, "Who is this Hermione? Do you know him?"

"Who are you?" Draco turned on Hermione's companion.

"I could ask the very same of you."

"I asked first," it became a juvenile battle of who would speak first.

"Marc Von Der Berg," he introduced himself but didn't bother holding out his hand to shake Draco's.

"Pleasure," Draco spat out.

"Now would somebody like to tell me what...I think you say...the bloody hell is going on?" Marc demanded.

"That's what I'd like to know," Hermione added.

Marc quickly picked up on her apprehension and leaned over and whispered something into her ear. She shook her head and whispered, "Thanks but not necessary, at least not right now."

They were standing on either sides of the room. The coffee table piled high with books and files was between them. Typical Hermione Draco thought. Hermione's arms were crossed and she was waiting to see what Draco would do next. Marc had eased up a bit but his hand was still hovering over his pocket with his wand in it.

"What's going on Draco?" Hermione finally whispered, breaking the standoff between them.

"Could we?" he motioned towards one of the adjoining rooms.

Marc looked skeptically at Hermione but she ignored his pleading glance. She turned abruptly and walked towards one of the closed doors.

Inside the room with the door safety closed Draco realized they were in what had to be a spare bedroom. It was pleasantly made up but as Draco looked around the room he noticed a few odd additions to the room. One was placed on the nightstand and the other was hanging from the wall that was situated opposite to the bed. Now wasn't the time to ask what the muggle junk did, nor did he really care.

Hermione had wandered over to the window and pulled back the curtains. The lights from the city poured in, leaving her body a silhouette to the night. It was obvious she wasn't planning to be the first one to talk. He had sought her out and now it was his job to win her back. The only problem was his mind was drawing a complete blank. Earlier he'd had so many brilliant ideas but now he was pulling up a blank slate.

She was ignoring him, pretending he wasn't there while she tried to think of what she was going to do. It was painful to her, he wasn't saying anything. What was going on?

Finally Draco took a deep breath, let it out and prayed for a miracle, "You asked why I was here. I think that's blatantly obvious, even to somebody with a quarter of your intelligence level," there what a good start he'd insulted her and complimented her in the same breath.

"Urgh, you are absolutely hopeless. I meant how did you end up in my kitchen?"

"Well, first off you might want to discuss with your assistant the concept of privacy."

"You went to my work?"

"Of course not."

"Then?"

"I was trying to find the Wizarding Community and I ran into two overly helpful young women who were eager to help a poor lost British guy in finding his girlfriend."

"Malfoy I'm not your girlfriend. Marc and I..." she didn't know how to finish that sentence for the reason that even she didn't know the status of their short relationship.

"Well, how long have you been showing him the inside of your apartment?"

She didn't say anything but even in the dark Draco could see the colour rise in her face. That was all the answer that he needed, "So you're one of those girls now?"

"What's that supposed to mean? And coming from you!" she bellowed.

"I'm just saying," he shrugged.

"Don't say anything," she held up a warning hand, "You don't know what it's been like..."

"On the contrary," Draco angrily remarked, "I think I know how you feel because hell our relationship was as much me as it was you."

"That's not what I meant," Hermione whispered sadly.

"Well, what did you mean? You need to start talking here? I haven't heard from you in three months."

"I needed time."

"Like hell you did, you had what was it four years! Was that not enough time for you?"

"I just walked away, abandoning my best friend at the altar okay. If that doesn't warrant some recovery time what does?"

"You didn't love him."

"Maybe I didn't but that still doesn't have anything to do with why you are standing in my flat screaming at me," she screamed.

He took a breath, gathering his thoughts. This was not going to end well if he screwed this up, "I love you. I have since sixth year and it's hard enough to have you walk away when I know you don't feel the same way about me. The thing is I know you feel the same way for me as I do for you. During sixth year, after the battle, three months ago, I can't bear to see you walk away from me one more time. I don't know what to do with myself. You are both a blessing and the worst thing that has ever happened to me because you don't realize what we could be. I gave you what I believed to be more than enough time to gather your thoughts and emotions after I screwed up during the war," he took a breath and was delighted to see she didn't look as angry.

She took a step closer to him but only one.

He continued on, knowing it was now or never, "I screwed up okay and I'm hear to make things right because I know, I just know that I can't live without you. Running off to Germany, what was that supposed to do. You can't run from what's meant to be and we're meant to be. We're perfect together. It doesn't matter if our House histories at school act as a barrier or the English Channel I will do whatever it takes to get you back. I'm done waiting around. Yes, no, whatever your answer is just don't say no if you have even a shred of feelings for me. I love you."

He'd managed to break through her hard wall she built around herself. The tears were sparkling as the gently floated down her face. He covered the distance between them and then stopped and questioned his next move. His hand rose and connected with her cheek. With his thumb he carefully wiped the moisture away.

As much as he had wanted to kiss her at that moment he told himself that he wasn't to because that might scare her away. It was to his great delight that he found her lips connected with his in a tender kiss. When she pulled away he saw that the tears were pooling once again in her eyes, "I don't know if I can. You have to believe me I want to, Merlin I can't think of anything I want more."

"What's stopping you?" he whispered, his heart sinking the entire time and his gut was rolling. It felt like he was going to be sick.

"Things just don't seem to work out for us. Maybe they weren't meant to be," she said contradicting his earlier statement of how they were perfect together and meant to be, "I love you," she attached to the end of her goodbye.

"I know," he replied, "that's why I'm not going anywhere. I'll see you around. Come find me when you change your mind. For both of us I hope you come to your senses sooner than later," without another kiss, touch or word he apparated away. It was now he mused that he would like to be a fly on the wall more than ever. He knew the answer to how long until she came around would be evident in her words to Marc.

Draco had apparated back to the Wizarding Street and set off to find himself some accommodations.

xxx.:.x.

After Draco had vanished Hermione sat down on the bed to gather her thoughts. She wasn't ready to go out and face Marc after the strong impact Draco's words had had on her. He'd been right, on every one of his points. They were something she thought of daily. It had been so hard to deny them both what they so desperately wanted but she selfishly had looked out for herself. It was painful to be away from him, but she only seemed to get hurt when they were together. She still loved him though and that was how she explained the unexpected kiss between them. It had been completely unplanned. One minute she was standing with quite a bit of distance between them and the next she had her lips firmly on his. The kiss had made her knees week and it was one of those kisses that the movies always joked about, where you saw fireworks.

From what Draco said he wasn't planning on going home until she was his. How long could she run from him? That was the million dollar question. Could she warrant another move. One where she didn't tell anybody where she was off to. Would that work or would he somehow find a way to follow her once more? Did she even want to run? She knew the answer to that one as she realized she'd kept Marc waiting long enough. Off the bed she pulled herself and out the door.

Marc jumped up from the couch when he saw her walk out, "What was that?"

"My ex," she replied, "wondering why I never owled him after leaving England like I promised I would."

"But he's your ex?" Marc said.

"He thought that once I was settled we would get back together again. I wasn't prepared to," she had brought Marc back to her flat for one reason and one reason only but now she didn't feel very much in the mood for it.

"Well, so...?" Marc said awkwardly, like he too had realized the passion was gone.

She wasn't in the mood at the moment but she figured she could get into it so she crossed the room and pulled off her shirt as she did so. In his arms she kissed him and pulled his shirt off at the same time. He was a bit shocked at first. He'd been expecting a thanks but no thanks after what had just occurred. It didn't take long though for him to get into it. HIs hands began to roam and it wasn't long before they were naked in her living room. The one thought that kept running through Hermione's head was, I hope Draco doesn't for some reason come back. She pushed that thought away. She wasn't dating him and so there was no reason to feel guilty. She was a grown woman who had needs.

Sadly she wasn't into it, her mind kept drifting off in other directions. After they'd finished Hermione's head cleared and she realized that they hadn't made it to a bed, or even the couch for that matter.

"Mmmm," Marc mumbled into her ear, "do you do that often, bring guys up after the first date?"

What a strange question, Hermione thought and quite inappropriate for the situation they were in, "No, you're the first," she said. It wasn't a lie. Then again she'd only ever slept with two other guys. Draco and Ron. She had a pretty sorry sex life and that was probably the motive behind her abnormal behavior that night, she didn't want to be the good girl anymore. Draco had taken that away from her, but he'd been gone so long that she needed something new.

"I guess I should take that as a compliment then, unless you were planning for a one night only thing?" he asked it as a question and it caught her off guard because after her unexpected visitor she didn't know what she wanted.

"You could ask me that after you take me out to dinner again?" she went out on a limb.

He agreed and they lined up a dinner date for not the next day but the one after that.

At that time Marc stood up and pulled his clothes back on, "You sure there's nothing going on between you and that guy?"

"No, Draco and I are..."

"Because it sure looks like he's crazy for you," Marc noted.

Was it that obvious? She had suspected that it was but a part of her had hoped it wasn't.

Marc was standing at the door and Hermione said, "So I guess I'll see you at work tomorrow," she wondered how that was going to turn out. Whatever happened to not dating a colleague? Whatever, her self respect and brain had long since disappeared.

"Yeah, tomorrow," without another word he apparated away.

Hermione walked over to the island in the kitchen and pulled out a bar stool. A glass of wine might do just the trick to get her more relaxed. After pouring herself a glass of Chardonnay she sat down on the stool. Her laptop which had been an impulsive gift to herself before leaving England was sitting open on the counter. In England she'd never had a use for the modern muggle technology, but now that she was back living submerged in a muggle environment she found it if not useful, but a nice time waster. She surfed for a while and sipped her wine, but even the distraction of the internet wasn't enough to clear her screaming head. What was she supposed to do?

Draco had made it quite obvious that he had not plans to leave without her, Marc was such a nice guy and she found herself falling for him but she also loved Draco? If only life was simple. On guy for every girl. The perfect world.

She didn't bother go to bed because she knew that she would only toss and turn. A second glass of wine slid down better than the first and she found herself reaching for the bottle for a third. It was hard but she resisted, she had to work the next day after all. No use making it harder than it would inevitably be.

She finally went to be way after midnight, but as she had predicted she barely slept. The next morning she walked into the Ministry and was surprised to see a large bouquet of bright flowers arranged on her desk. She didn't know who they were from and she found herself hoping they were from one over the other. There was no note which led her to believe they were from Draco. She received the answer when he assistant walked in with another bouquet of flowers.

"Morning Ms. Granger," the woman said.

"Morning Alina, thanks they can just go there," she pointed to a shelf that was below the window. Unlike the English Ministry, the German Ministry was above ground which allowed it to have actual windows. Hermione's looked over the city and was a pretty impressive view for her status at the ministry.

"Do you know who they're from?"

"Well, one will be from Draco who I might add I don't like you giving out my address to strangers."

"I'm sorry," she said blushing, "he seemed so sincere and I felt sorry for him and..."

Hermione held up a hand, "There was no harm done," she found herself saying, "I guess I should thank you for getting his sorry pureblood ass off the muggle streets. Who knows how long he would have survived there," she laughed.

Alina chuckled uncomfortably along with Hermione and then looked anxiously in the direction of the door.

"Go on," Hermione said smiling as she shooed her out the door, "Remember for next time."

"Of course, I'm sorry."

No sooner than the door had closed than it opened again but this time in walked Alex and Dominic with stacks of papers in their arms. Following a few seconds behind them was Marc.

"Morning Hermione," Alex greeted her.

"Guten Morgen," she replied. Her mindless internet surfing had come in handy after all. What wonderful things internet translators were. She vowed that every night from then on she was going to try and learn a new phrase or something of the like.

"Hallo," Dominic said as he passed by her on his way to dump his load on her desk.

The last person to walk by her was Marc.

"Hatten Sie eine gute Nacht?" Marc asked her.

It was evident after a few seconds that he wasn't going to translate for her so she turned towards Dominic who was back standing beside her. He told her, "He asked if you had a good night last night?"

"Ja, danke," she blushed. Luckily only the two of them knew the real meaning behind the question and answer.

"Gut," he didn't say anything more but smirked as he walked past her.

She wanted to scream, she had thought she wouldn't have to see that smirk anymore but now in the same day she found two guys that possessed the same trademark smirk.

The morning passed very slowly and Hermione was relieved when the guys said they were going out for lunch. She declined and said she had some extra work she had to get done. They tried to drag her along but she stood her ground. Soon they would realize that when she set her mind towards something very little could detour her.

The afternoon wasn't much better than the morning. It was awkward and long as well. By supper time she was exhausted from her night of little sleep and she excused herself early. When she arrived home she did a quick walk through of her apartment and didn't find Draco hiding anywhere. Something she was surprised to discover. It was strange, she'd been betting on running into him at least once throughout the day. She ate a quick dinner and then went straight to bed. No wine for her. The next day she had to look forward to work and her dinner date with Marc. She was exited for the latter but also apprehensive for if she knew Draco like she thought she knew him, he would somehow find a way to crash her date. Whatever was to happen it would have no shortness of entertainment. With that thought she fell into a deep sleep.

xxx.:.x.

a/n First off I'd like to thank you and tell you how amazing you all are. I never expected the wonderful feedback I got from you and it was amazing. Wow thanks. I hope you liked this chapter and the next one should get interesting, a little date crashing if you know what I mean.


	3. Stalker

Hermione was both excited for and dreading her upcoming dinner date. She walked cautiously into the restaurant 'Der Hausgemacht Kneipe.' Instantly she was glad that she had been running late and hadn't bothered to change out of her work clothes because the restaurant wasn't actually a restaurant. She let out a sigh of relief that she blended in in what appeared to be a pub. She scanned the large after work crowd and pinpointed Marc sitting along the back wall with a drink already in front of him.

Making her way through the clumps of people was no easy task but eventually she made it over to the table. He jumped to his feet and pulled out her chair for her, "Thanks," she said.

He shook his head and held up a hand," Nein."

"What?" she asked, she didn't understand why he was shaking his head.

"Auf deutsch."

"Something German?" she translated half of his phrase out loud.

He nodded, "We have got to get you speaking it. It's a way of thinking and we've got to get you thinking that way.

"Danke, happy?" she questioned.

"Gut."

She was now sitting in her seat and Marc said, "What would you like to drink?"

She told him and he went over to the bar. When he came back he was loaded down with two almost overflowing mugs.

"Danke," she smirked at him and he smiled in return.

"Bitte Schon, you're welcome."

He asked her how her day had gone since he hadn't seen her at work, he'd been out of town briefly working on a project. She quickly brought him up to date about the goings on at the Ministry. A hurried waitress interrupted any further discussion by coming over and asking them if they would like to order anything. They decided to stick with appies and then the waitress disappeared back into the mass of people.

Hermione scanned the room looking for one thing in particular. She saw it right away. Sitting at the bar at the end closes to the door, "Urgh," she sighed louder than she had meant to. Marc looked at her strangely but she shook her head and he didn't question her further. Fitting, they could have gone to some fancy restaurant where Draco wouldn't have been able to stalk them but in a bar he didn't look one bit out of place.

In one corner of the room a band had started to warm up on the small stage and it got to loud for either of them to talk. Thankfully their food came and so words weren't necessary as they divided up the food onto two smaller plates. A short break between songs was enough for Marc to say, "Hey isn't that your ex over there?" he pointed across the bar.

Hermione cringed, she had been hoping that Draco would only be there observing or stalking her whatever way you looked at it but not ready to intervene. Now that Marc knew he was there things probably wouldn't go as smoothly as either of them would have hoped.

"What does he think he's doing here?" Marc spat out and then switched back into German and said something so rushed that to Hermione it sounded just like a mumble. She figured she probably didn't want to understand what he had just said.

Before Hermione could do or say anything Marc had pushed his seat back and jumped to his feet. What Hermione was able to do was stick out an arm and block his exit, "Just stay here, I doubt he's seen us at all. Besides he has as much right to be here as we do."

It was evident that he understood what she meant he just didn't want to believe it. A few seconds passed with him hanging in limbo and then she finally convinced him to return to his seat. They finished eating in absolute silence, well not silence since the band was hammering out and ear splitting tune. After their food had disappeared off their plates Marc stood up once more but instead of going off in search of Draco he held out his hand for Hermione.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"Can't I ask my date to dance with me?"

She hadn't noticed it before but now that he mentioned it she saw that half of the people in the bar were dancing in the centre of the room.

"I guess so, but I'm not of a dancer," she admitted.

"Come on, you can't be that bad," he laughed.

"We'll see," she accepted his hand and he pulled her to her feet and over to the crowd of people dancing.

Her body began to move to the music and his followed her lead. He rested his hands on her hips and pulled her closer to him. HIs back was to the bar and so he didn't see Draco's glare burning holes in his back. Hermione smiled in his direction and he turned his glare onto her. Before she knew what he was doing he was beside her and tapping Marc on the shoulder. Marc dropped his arms off of Hermione and spun around. When he saw who it was that had interrupted them he slide his one arm back around Hermione's waist and pulling her close to him. Showing Draco that Hermione was with him.

"Mind if I cut in?" Draco said smugly.

Being so close to Draco was driving Hermione crazy. Her body wanted to be in his arms but she waited for Marc to answer.

"We're kind of..." he didn't finish. Draco had not heard a straight yes or no answer so he reached out and pulled Hermione towards him. Her body melted into his, not anything like it had with Marc. To Draco's delight the song ended as soon as they started to dance and the next one was a slow song. He stepped closer to her, closing the gap between their bodies and she rested her head against his chest as they began to sway slowly.

"He's going to kill me," Draco chuckled.

"Well you didn't have to cut in," she mumbled, "Not that I'm complaining."

"Ditch him, come back with me," Draco suggested to her, hoping but not really expecting her to take him up on his offer.

"I wish."

"Why can't you?"

"I'm still not ready to."

"How long do you need?"

"I don't know," she sighed, "I'm hoping not to long. I miss you," there she'd said it. She didn't have a chance to hear him reply to that because they stopped dancing suddenly and she was transferred once again between guys.

"I can't stand that prick, what does he think he's doing. He won't get away with it. Sorry I couldn't get you away from him sooner."

"Your forgiven," she assured him.

Because it was in the middle of the song they stayed on the floor and swayed together. Hermione felt awkward in his arms and she felt like she was dancing with two left feet. It was a normal feeling for her when she danced, but after dancing with Draco and feeling how perfectly they fit together she wasn't so sure what normal was anymore. After the song had ended they walked back to their table and sat back down. They ordered another drink from the passing waitress and then Marc excused himself to the bathroom. Hermione watched the people around her interacting with their friends and dates and she was so much enthralled that she didn't notice the seat that Marc had just vacated being taken.

"We could make a break for it now," the person said, jarring her out of her thoughts. She turned to the new addition and smiled.

"You better get out of here before he returns. I don't feel like breaking up a fight because who knows I might have to hex you in the process. We wouldn't want that now would we," she laughed.

From behind her she heard Marc say angrily, "Do you not understand the meaning of stay away from her?"

"I could ask the same of you," Draco retorted.

"She's my girlfriend," Marc said staking his claim, "and you are her ex. Tell me who has more right to be around her?"

"Shut up," Hermione snarled.

Marc looked at her hurt, not being able to believe that she didn't want him to stand up for her.

"Why don't we let her decide?" Draco suggested, because he was overconfident in her decision. Maybe not right then but he was positive that in the long run she would choose him. If what she'd said while they'd been dancing held any truth.

"Wonderful idea," Hermione said, "I'm leaving," she picked up her purse and turned to the waitress who was hovering by them, "They'll take care of the bill," she smiled at everyone and then walked into the crowd on her way to the door.

After the door had clicked shut behind her she prepared to apparate but then thought better of it. She'd just walked out on two guys who were fighting over her and left them together. Things probably wouldn't end up well and she might be needed to break up a brawl. If not then it might serve as a good source of entertainment. She migrated into the shadows and set about to wait for them to exit the building.

The street was crowded with people out for a good evening and the chorus of laughter and music filtering out from the variety of restaurants and pubs blended together and created a lively atmosphere. Nobody that walked by noticed her, they were all to focused on where they were headed to care or even notice one person hanging around outside a pub. Then again it wasn't that uncommon of a sight Hermione noticed when she panned the street. Many people were leaning up against the exteriors of buildings, cooling off from the unbearable heat inside or just finding a quite place to talk away from the noise of the crowds.

She had to wait longer than she expected but eventually as she had suspected the door was thrown open and out walked the two men she had been hiding in the shadows waiting for.

"What's your problem man?" Draco asked.

"Mine, I should be asking you the same thing. She's mine, stay away from her," Marc said forcefully.

"Oh really now, you do realize that she's only with you to make me jealous?"

"That's not what she told me."

"Why would she ever tell you such a thing? Besides when I danced with her she told me that we would get together again."

"Then why was she out on a date with me?" Marc roared.

Draco was fed up with using his words and magic didn't seem fitting at that point so he pulled his arm back, wound up and slugged Marc right on the cheek. He was sent reeling backwards and his hands shot up to nurse his cheek. It didn't take long for his shock to subside and he was raising at Draco with his fists raised. Draco stepped out of the way at the last minute and narrowly missed a gut shot.

By then a few people had stopped in their tracks to watch the fight unfold and Hermione could hear a few of them whispering. Their confusion over why they were fighting like muggles was evident.

Draco realized not much more after that that he was more skilled with his wand than he was with his fists. Yanking his wand out of his pocket he directed it on Marc who didn't have time to pull out his wand let alone perform a shielding charm. The curse caused Marc's legs to buckle but he was back on his feet in no time. The curse having little effect on him. Marc got back at Draco by firing a complicated spell off that sent what looked to be tightly wound sheets shooting out of his wand. They twisted themselves around Draco and momentarily incapacitated him. He thrashed around and finally managed to break free of the confinement.

None of the growing crowd had bothered to step in up until this point, they were to entertained by what was happening. It was when the spells began to get really out of hand and the threat of injury was present did the people began to shift uncomfortably on their feet. They still weren't to keen to stop the fight but they didn't want it to end badly. Hermione pushed her way through the people and just as Marc and Draco raised their wands to perform a curse she flicked her wand. The strength of the curse was so strong that it sent both men flying through the air and landing on their butts a ways back from where they had seconds before been standing. Their wands were now safely clasped in Hermione's hand.

"You'll get them back," she said quietly for there was no need to yell. It was silent enough to hear a pin drop, "when you can prove to me that I can trust you with them," she felt like a mother scorning her toddlers for playing with daddy's wand instead of two semi-intelligent grown men who should have known better but their testosterone got in the way of their common sense and better judgement.

"Hermione," Draco whined rather unattractively.

"No use begging, it will do you absolutely no good."

Now the spectators were itching to know who the woman was that came in and broke up the fight, and why had the men been fighting in the first place. Some people had pieced it together. They understood why she broke up the fight and how they were all connected. Others struggled and had to be told by their neighbours what was happening.

Marc walked over to her side and said, "Let's go Hermione, leave this piece of...could I have my wand back? Thanks for that."

"No, I can't trust you either. You are as bad as he is."

"What are you talking about?" Marc demanded, now he was the one whining.

Draco was watching the petty argument unfold and was laughing to himself the whole time. What an idiot that Marc guy was. The only other thing Draco liked about the situation-because believe him he'd much rather have her outright his instead of fighting with some other guy for her-was seeing Hermione stand up for herself and take control of a situation. She was smart and beautiful but rarely did she use the combination of her gifts together. When she did, look out. He was proud to see her getting out and living a little. At the start when he had learned that there was another guy he had been angry now he was entertained. He knew he would get her in the long run, hell she had told him that herself not half an hour before and the poor loser standing beside her didn't have a clue what was coming for him. This would be one of those things Draco mused that when he was old and almost senile he would look back on with Hermione and laugh about. Yeah, not everything was strictly good or bad.

People began to realize that the fun was over and so they in their small groups or pairs began to wander back to whatever had captured their attention earlier, leaving Draco, Marc and Hermione standing in a triangle all facing off. The only one that had any hope of coming out the victor was Hermione because she had three wands in her possession.

"So are you going to stop acting like children or do I have to keep these for a bit longer?"

Both men burst out in loud protests and reasons why they had to have their wands. Fed up Hermione tucked them all safely away in her pockets. Hers in her right hand pocket and their two in her left, "I guess the answer to that is no. I'll see you around," she said before she turned and walked away.

"That's my wand," Marc bellowed, "I need it, you can't just walk away with it."

Of course she could. Technically it was no longer their wands. The Final Battle of Hogwarts had proven that when a wand was won by an individual it became theirs. She in all rights had disarmed them and so if she wanted to she could very well use her two newly acquired wands as her own and they would work perfectly well. She had no plans to do such a thing. She only wanted them to be powerless for a short period of time. WIth out their wands they wouldn't be able to apparate and so she would have a short break at her flat before they showed up pounding on her door seeing as they would have to walk or find fire to Floo from.

At her flat she settled down into one of the living room chairs with a book, the wands placed at her side on the end table. What she hoped would result from them having to find a non magical way to her place would be either they had had to work together and so they weren't so much of enemies anymore, or they would refuse to help each other, go off in separate directions and end up at her flat at completely different times. She didn't want to meet up with both of them at the same time if they were still ready to fight each other, nor would she give them back their wands in that situation.

It wasn't a surprise to her when Marc was the first to bang on her door. She never really had expected them to work together and if they had separated Marc would have had a huge advantage seeing as he was familiar with the geography of the city.

She opened the door for him and he walked into her flat, "I see that you were making a point, but was it really necessary to take away my wand?"

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Could I have it back?"

"Sure."

"Really?" he hadn't expected her to hand it over that easily.

"Yeah," she reached over to the table, picked up the wand and dropped it into his outstretched palm, "Good night," she said and he understood that she was not in the mood to have him stick around. He didn't even bother ask her to say the farewell in German, something she was quite capable of saying.

"I guess I'll see you around."

"Yeah at work," she said offhandedly.

He shot her a brief smile and then walked out the door. He figured that it would do them more good if he didn't press her right then. It was quite evident that she was angry.

Not many minutes later a pounding on her door pulled her from her seat once again.

"Cooled down?" she asked him causally.

"I guess you could say so," he replied, "Do you think I could get my wand back?" he wasn't about to admit to her how helpless and vulnerable he felt without it.

"In a minute."

"Why?"

"You have to do one thing first," she whispered.

"Hermione," he moaned, " Just give me the damn wand."

"Kiss me first," she smirked.

From the look on his face it was evident that that had not been what he'd thought she would ask of him.

a/n well not much to say here except I hope you liked it, please review and thanks to those that have. Cheers.


	4. Forever

To get his wand back she'd told him he had to do one thing. That one thing she figured he wouldn't have that much objection to doing. She'd been right. As if someone had shot him out of a canon he was at her side and pulling her into his arms. Softly he connected his lips with hers and kissed her. She melted instantly. It was a feeling she'd been waiting for for some time. To her disappointment the kiss didn't last long. Draco pulled away and she opened her eyes to see him smiling.

"I've been wanting to do that for so long," he whispered into her ear.

She wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him down beside her on the couch. With her arms still tightly wound around him she cuddled into his warmth. He rested his chin on the top of her head and inhaled the sweet sent of her shampoo, fruity. He knew he couldn't do anything to rash, he still had to be on his best behaviour because she could change her mind pretty quickly.

They sat in silence for the longest time, both thinking about what being together would mean. Hermione was worried about how Marc would take her saying she was going back to Draco. Of course he wouldn't take it well, no guy would take it well having the girl he was seeing go back to her ex.

"What are you thinking about?" Draco asked her.

"About Marc," she replied.

Like Marc not taking to kindly to having Draco and Hermione back together, Draco didn't like hearing that Marc was on Hermione's mind, not just minutes after he thought things might turn out okay. He had to bight his tongue to keep him from spewing out some unpleasant words that may just turn Hermione against him once and for all.

Hermione noticed his clenched jaw and laughed, "About how he will take it hearing that we're together again, because I have to tell him."

"Yeah," Draco said cautiously, "I'll go with you," he didn't want any sort of break up sex or make out between the two. He seriously hoped they hadn't done the former at all seeing as they'd only been seeing each other for what he understood to be a couple of days.

She sighed, "I don't know. What a mistake that was, I still have to work with him.

He pulled her closer to him, hoping that he could push those unwanted thoughts out of her mind. It worked because she snuggled into him once more and said, "So what's it like back home?"

"What do you want to know?"

"I guess you wouldn't have talked to Ginny," she replied sadly, for he never would have talked to anybody she was close to.

"Actually," he said and she perked up, "I talked to her quite a bit, she's kind of the reason I'm here," he admitted.

"You talked to her?" she was surprised. She knew that Ginny had accepted her relationship with Draco so it would be fitting that Draco had gone to her but it still surprised her. He didn't like any Gryffindors all that much.

"Yeah, you hadn't owled me. I was worried about you. I didn't know if something had happened to you and because nobody knew about us hadn't let me know. When you left you left me thinking that you would for sure owl me. I sought Ginny out because I needed to know. And then well we became quite friendly."

That was even more surprising to her than Draco saying he'd talked to Ginny. It shouldn't have been because she'd always thought that while she and Draco would make a wonderful couple, Ginny and Draco could someday be good friends. They were very similar people.

"She sent me a note telling me to get my act together and come out and find you."

"Wow," she said, "I still can't believe that you guys are friends. I mean, don't get me wrong its great, it's just completely unexpected."

"It was to me as well," he admitted.

"What are your plans?" she asked, maybe it was to soon for such a question but she needed to know.

"You mean about going home?" he asked carefully.

"Yeah," she nodded.

"Where do you want to be, because I can deal with anywhere as long as we're together."

She smiled, "I love Germany, it's not as dreary as England. I don't know. If I...we stay here, I'm only working with Marc on this one project. After that I won't see him again. If we head back to England, you're not going to like it but it's the truth, I'm not going to be able to avoid Ron forever."

"You're leaning towards Germany aren't you?"

"I think so. I mean are you okay with that? I know how much you love England."

"I told you, England's a horrible place if you're not there. Besides I think I can deal with Marc for now. It would be having to deal with Weasley forever that would kill me. Have you talked to anyone since you left?"

"My parents, weekly and some of my old co workers a few times. I owled Ginny once to tell her I arrived safely."

"So you haven't talked to Potter? I thought you guys were close."

"We were," she trailed off and looked away from him.

"I'm sorry, do you want to talk about it?"

She didn't say anything. Instead she wrung her hands together, played with the hem of her jacket. Anything that would keep her from spilling her guts. In the background the clock ticked loudly throughout the silent room. Abruptly she stood up and walked over to the wall and flipped on the light switch. She hadn't realized up until then they'd been sitting in almost darkness. The knew light blinded both of them and they squinted against the brightness.

"Sorry," she said automatically as she sat back down beside him and this time she looked him in the eye. She was ready to talk. He adjusted himself into a more comfortable position and waited for her to begin.

"I haven't talked to Harry since I left. He hates you and for good reason. I should too," she said the last line softly, "He's best friends with Ron. Sure I was as much of his friend as Ron was but I was a girl. A guy needs his guy friends, just like I needed Ginny as my girl friends. There's a connection that he has with Ron that I don't have with him. It also doesn't help that he's probably furious with me for being selfish and breaking his heart. I think he's probably figured out why I left the country."

Draco didn't know what to say to that. She may be happy with him but he felt extremely guilty for forcing her to do the right thing. Now that he saw how much it had cost her. He was the selfish one and she was to good for him and so he told her that.

She shrugged in reply but didn't say anything. She did believe he was selfish, so was she and anyways wasn't everyone? They would end up together, that was what mattered. If Harry was really her true friend he would see that she was happy and accept that. Ron was another story, she didn't expect his understanding let alone forgiveness and so she wasn't setting herself up for disappointment.

"I probably should go back and talk to Harry," she said.

"That's sounds like a good idea."

"But first I have to talk to Marc."

"Good luck."

"Thanks, wow I'm exhausted," she breathed.

"I guess I should leave you to get some rest. You'll have a long day tomorrow. How about I bring you some breakfast tomorrow morning?"

"No thanks," she said startling him.

"What?"

"Stay," she stood up and pulled him to his feet, "You've been away to long," she pulled him behind her into her bedroom and closed the door.

x.:.x.:.x

Hermione woke up before her alarm was set to go off and stretched out in her bed. Her hands didn't connect with anything and she jumped up. The other side of the bed was empty. She slipped out from under the covers and padded with bare feet to the bathroom. Pushing open the door she suspected to see him doing his hair or something of the like in front of the mirror, but he wasn't there. The rest of the flat was empty as well.

She didn't have time to go and search for him or she would be late for work. She jumped into the shower and let the scalding hot spray pull her completely out of her daze. After drying off she performed a quick drying spell on her hair and left it as that.

After getting all ready she walked out of her bedroom and was surprised to see Draco sitting at her dinning room table.

"Where'd you go?" she questioned him

"I told you I'd get breakfast," he motioned to the plates of food on the table that she hadn't noticed before.

She walked over to the table and pulled out a chair and sat down to enjoy the food.

After she had finished he said, "When are you going to talk to Marc"

"I don't know. Before he makes a move, but he practically ignored me at work so that wouldn't be a problem."

"I'll come with you."

"No," she said loudly, "I mean I'll be okay. It'll probably be better if it's just me. He's not so fond of you."

Reluctantly Draco stepped down. There was no use arguing with her. If she wanted to do it by herself then he'd have to let her. Maybe she was right, she knew the guy better than him, although not that much more and she had a better idea of how he'd react, "Okay, I'll see you after work."

She pushed back her chair, patted her mouth with a napkin and gave him a kiss good bye, "Yeah later," she grabbed her briefcase off of the counter and then apparated away to the Ministry.

After she had left Draco set about cleaning up the remaining food and then he too apparated out of the flat.

At the Ministry Hermione passed a few people who she knew and greeted them with a quick "Morgen," or "Guten Tag," the replied pleasantly back to her but most of what they said she didn't understand. On her way to her office she passed Dominic who she greeted in German but he thankfully replied in English.

"Morgen Hermione. Alex is not coming in today, something about his daughter and a soaking charm. I don't know, don't ask," he shook his head.

Hermione laughed briefly along with him but then it was back to business, "Okay."

"I have to run out this morning but I should be back after lunch so..."

"Just Marc and I here or is he off doing something else?" her heart sunk, she didn't want to be alone with Marc before or after she told him that she was going back to Draco.

"No he's waiting for you in your office. See you later."

"Tschüs," she called out to him as he hurried off towards the lifts. If the room she wasn't in hadn't been filled with people she probably would have kicked the nearest desk, but instead she was forced to control her emotions and walk over and enter her office. Closing the door softly behind her she saw Marc jump up from his chair and walk over to her.

"Morgen," she mumbled to him.

"Guten Morgen," he replied more confidently.

She pushed past him and kicked her chair out. After unloading her briefcase in silence she looked up because she had nothing more to allow her to ignore him without looking rude.

"Are you still mad about last night?" he asked. He didn't sit down, instead he placed his hands shoulder width apart on her desk and leaned across her desk so he was looking her square in the eye. A look that she could not return. She pulled her eyes away and stared down at her hands, "Talk to me Hermione."

"I'm sorry," she whispered. It seemed to her like that was the only phrase she was saying to anybody anymore.

"What's going on? You were fine until your ex showed up. Did he do something to you? Did he hurt you?"

She didn't bother to tell him that before Draco arrived they'd only known each other for eight hours, "No, it's nothing like that. He'd never hurt me," at least not physically. Emotionally and mentally was another story.

"i don't understand, tell me. I desperately want to figure you out Hermione but you're not making it very easy on my part."

She stood up and kicked her chair back, she felt to vulnerable sitting down when he was standing over her, but she did keep her desk between them. He understood that her movement meant that she was about to talk so he didn't press any further.

"After you left last night," she began slowly.

"Ja," he urged her on.

"Draco came."

"Is that why you kicked me out so quickly?" he asked angrily.

"No," she protested, "It was nothing like that."

"Then what was it?"

"Draco showed up and well there's nothing much to say. I just felt like it was the right thing to do."

"What was right?" he almost screamed.

"Draco and I are back together," she all but whispered.

Marc brought his hands up and ran them through his hair as he took a few deep breaths. Then instead of yelling at her he started spewing off some rushed German that she didn't understand.

"Stop," she screamed, "You might as well be talking behind my back. Now say it to my face or don't say it at all."

"Fine, are you sure about this? He was your ex, you split up for a reason. Who's not to say that you won't last again."

"Maybe, but who's knows if any relationship is going to last."

"Well I hope you're happy," he said bitterly as he gathered up his paperwork and hastily walked out the door.

After he was gone Hermione sunk back into her chair and knew she'd made the right decision when she didn't shed a tear. If she'd told Draco what she'd just told Marc she knew she would have been a wreck.

She putted through some of her work but was just pushing it aside for a lunch break when the door opened.

"How'd you daughter?" Hermione asked.

"Would be better if I was at home but that isn't going to happen. Marc showed up at my door and told me with no more explanation than this, something had happened and he couldn't be our correspondent any longer. Do you know what he was talking about?"

"That is really strange," she commented, trying to hide her elation. If he'd pulled himself from the team that meant she wouldn't have to pull herself.

"You're telling me. So that means that everyone has to pull together and we're going to have to divide his portion of work up between you and Dom."

"Okay," anything that would keep her busy and away from Marc she'd do without complaint.

"Good, I knew I could count on you. Now whoever caused him to react so harshly I will let you know I detest and you should too because this means a lot of extra work for you."

"Yeah, right," she agreed.

"Now that that's settled I'm off. My daughter will be waiting for me."

"Alex," hermione called just as her boss was about to apparate away.

"What?" he turned and faced her.

"What exactly happened to your daughter?"

"She's four and found Mommy's wand. Let me say she's going to be one force when she's trained up."

"I'll bet. Good luck."

"Thanks, I'll need it," he replied as he left the office.

Draco was probably pacing so much that he'd worn a hole in her floor so she wrote a brief note explaining that she'd told Marc and he'd gone off and pulled himself off the team and they didn't have to worry about him any more. She rolled up the note and then headed out of her office and over to the lifts. In the lifts she waited as they carried her up to the roof where the owls lived.

She sent the owl off that she'd selected and then turned around and started to head back to her office. It was a beautiful day and pleasantly warm out so she lapped in the rays as she headed over to the lifts. Back on her floor she made her way through the mess of desks.

"Hermione," one lady snagged her arm as she walked past, "who's the sexy blonde?" she raised her eyebrows.

"Oh!"

"He's in your office whoever he is. My, my," she breathed.

"I better go see," she said but there was no need. Who else could be characterized as sexy and blonde.

Sure enough when she entered her office she saw Draco sitting in her high backed chair with his legs crossed and feet up on her desk, "You better not muck up any of the parchments," she said warningly.

"Don't worry, I have no plans of doing such a thing. Have you talked to him yet or should I be scared to be in your office?" he joked.

"He's gone. I just owled you but I guess that there was no need to."

"Good.

"Ah, ah, ah," she held up a hand and shook her finger.

"What?"

"If you're going to be staying in Germany then you'll have to learn the language."

"And you know the language?" he said questionably.

"Well, no, but we can learn it together. Since we have forever together."

"Yeah, forever," he said embracing her, "sounds good doesn't it?"

"Amazing," she chuckled and then kissed him

Things were really beginning to point in the right direction.

x.:.x.:.x

a/n Well this is the end. Sad I know, but I figured if I dragged it out much longer it would just get butchered and boring. So please review and you may see an epilogue. Thanks to all the wonderful reviews already.


	5. Epiloque: Defeat

"Mama!" when nobody answered the small yet powerful voice screamed out, "Vati!" The shrillness of each word bounced off the walls of the kitchen and poured out into the rest of the empty house. Footsteps could be heard pounding down the long carpeted corridor that connected the bedrooms to the main part of the house. Not one person, but two came into the kitchen out of breath and covered in dust. Questioning looks on both of their faces until they saw the tell tale plume of black smoke wafting up from the floor in front of the fire. A log had rolled free of it's grate and had come to rest on the floor. Thankfully the fire had been dying out.

The problem was quickly solved by using a set of tongs to lift up the charred remains and return them to their original position. A quick sweep up later and the only sign that it had ever occurred was the imprint of the terrifying experience for the 8 year old boy.

"Mama," he said, "Wohin gehn wir?" (1)

"Zelig in English please," the woman begged she was worried he would not be fluent enough when they returned to England.

"Give him a chance Hermione. He knows it well enough to get by. He'll be fine. We're going back to England son," Draco snapped at his wife.

"Aber warum," it was automatic for him to speak it. Sure he'd grown up hearing English and that's what his parents spoke but nobody else did so why should it stick in his brain, "But why?" he quickly corrected when he saw the look of anger flash across his Mother's face turn into disappointment. He hated to make his Mother disappointed, but was even worse was making his Father angry. His Father had very little patience and one misdemeanour could make it so he couldn't sit down for a week, easily. It wasn't something he liked but if he had to be honest almost every time he believed he earned his punishment.

"Don't ask questions," his Father said and then turned and walked out the door. His Mother's eyes trailed after the blond and then once he was gone she knelt down so that she was eye level with her son.

"Mama," he whispered softly, "I don't understand."

"Neither do I Zelig, neither do I," she shook her head. She knew he hadn't been talking about the language barrier but Draco's sudden shortness with his son. He was usually a loving father but something recently had changed and he had very little time for his son. Hermione hoped that that would all change once they were safely back in England.

Draco had brought up the idea of moving back to the island one night as they had been lying in bed. He was only wearing a pair of boxers and she a skimpy nighty. It was warm, and had been a pleasant summer day when he rolled over and kissed her. An act that was all to uncommon since they had been living together for ten years. What had shocked her was when out of nowhere he started talking about England and how he wished to return. Hermione had been devastated at first. She loved Germany. The people, the culture and best of all it was a long ways away from Ron as well as Draco's parents.

"Let's discuss it in the morning," she replied, "I'm tired."

He wasn't going to be brushed off that easily. Boosting himself up on his right elbow he leaned over her and looked down at her, "What's wrong with now?"

"I'm tired!" she said shortly and rolled over onto her side, facing away from Draco.

That wouldn't stop him and because of his persistence the couple would partake in their second fight in less than a week. The first had been over something stupid like a grapefruit in the market but had resulted in Hermione going into the Ministry on a Sunday afternoon and not returning home until after midnight. She had curled up to her son that night and slept.

Their fights were becoming more and more heated and with less time in between. Before Hermione was always willing to compromise because that's what you had to do with somebody you loved but she was now finding it harder to do.

At first she had held her ground and refused to move back. Finally she caved and agreed to a weekend trip home-Draco still called it home, Hermione didn't. That weekend managed to be extended to an entire week and Draco's manipulation skills finally caused her to agree. It was her one final attempt at saving her marriage.

It pained her to think of her life without Draco. She'd loved him-but also hated him-for almost half her life. It didn't seem real that they could just walk away from that many years together, but then when she thought about the state of their life recently she thought maybe she could begin to accept the turn in events.

Draco had first brought up the idea in August. It had taken until September for Hermione to agree to his proposition and here it was, January and they were packing up the last of their possessions. They would be leaving the next morning. They had a house-or rather a manor-waiting for them in the English Countryside. That was another thing Hermione wasn't pleased about. It had been a long time since she hadn't lived in the centre of a large city.

It was already way past Zelig's bedtime so Hermione led him to his bedroom where he would spend his last night in Germany. A half an hour later and two stories quoted Hermione walked out of the room, leaving the door open a crack. A quick glance to the end of the corridor revealed their bedroom door was closed.

"Zelig's asleep. Listen for him. I'm going for a walk," she said after she opened the door a crack and saw Draco lying back diagonally across their bed. He didn't even acknowledge her.

Grabbing her cloak out of the hall closet she opened the door and sighed as the cool air forced its way into the house. She shivered as she stepped out onto the step and then set off at a brisk pace. While it was Zelig's last night in the bedroom he had grown up in it was her last night in Berlin. The city that she had started to call home over a decade before and couldn't imagine leaving. Zelig loved the city though. He enjoyed being able to go see a Quidditch game-he was quite the skilled flyer-or interact with wizard children, something that couldn't be done as easily while living in the country. Maybe if things didn't work out she'd come back. That thought made her feel extremely guilty because she was almost excited about the prospect of returning with only her son in tow. No, she had to think they could fix their problems. They had countless times before, why couldn't they this time? The truth was to hard to ignore, the passion they'd felt for each other had long since disappeared. Had it only been a school girl crush, a young woman's urge to rebel against all that she knew? She hoped not, she wanted to believe there had been more to it.

Hermione had apparated into Wizarding Berlin and began to walk down the quite street. She passed the Ministry which had been her safe haven for the past year and where she had quit her job just a week before. She passed by the now closed up shops and the restaurants, pubs and hotels where so much had happened. She looked over at a patch of green space-the square with mixed emotions. That had been the place where Hermione and Draco to drunk to apparate had stumbled into after a night out with friends. The shrubs surrounding the square and the trees had provided just enough cover for them to rip off each others clothes and conceive Zelig in the middle of the Wizarding Community. That was when their relationship still held a bit of excitement.

Hermione still remembered the panic that had engulfed her when Draco's clumsy fingers had began to tear her clothes away. Even to this day she could still feel the gut wrenching panic at being caught.

It was getting late so Hermione remorsefully apparated one last time back to their house. In the bathroom she washed up and changed into a pair of sweat pants and a baggy T Shirt and then crawled into bed. Making sure to stay on her half of the bed. She was not in the mood for anything. Draco wasn't either because he didn't even move as the bed sagged under the extra weight. With that Hermione fell into a restless sleep.

The following morning Hermione reluctantly opened her eyes as the first streams of daylight poured into the bedroom. Draco was already up and moving around, shrinking boxes and trunks and piling them all together. The rest of the morning Draco proceeded to make a number of trips apparating stuff to their new home. Hermione spent the entire time repacking stuff that Zelig pulled apart and convincing him that he would like England. All in German though. She'd finally given up on him speaking English. He would do it when he needed to because it would frustrate him to no end if he wasn't able to talk to people something he loved to do.

The last of the stuff had disappeared out of the house by lunch time and Draco came back one final time to retrieve his family.

"Ready?" he asked gruffly.

"Vati, wo ist mein besenstiel?" (2)

Draco replied impatiently to his son that it was waiting for him in England and that they should get going. Draco reached out and Zelig reluctantly grabbed his hand and then they apparated away. In the peacefulness of the empty house Hermione sat down against one of the walls. She didn't have much time because they would wonder why she didn't appear seconds after them. The look on Zelig's face made her feel sick. He looked terrified to be around his Father, his own Father! Hermione wondered sometimes if Draco was trying to be to much like his own Father. That scared her even more.

One final walk through the house later and a remorseful look out into the city and she apparated away with the feeling that she would be returning sometime soon.

xxx.:.x.

England hadn't worked out. Really what did moving to a different country solve. You're problems were still the same whether you lived in Germany or England, China or Antarctic, well maybe not Antarctic.

The manor had been hell. There was half a dozen house elves which had instantly annoyed an already testy Hermione. The place was to big, so unlike their cozy home in Berlin. Nobody came by to visit except Draco's parents who struggled to look Hermione in the eye let alone make conversation with her and they nagged at Hermione to stop, 'Zelig's horrible habit of being so rude to them,' as they called it. He called them Oma and Opa, perfectly acceptable names for grandparents in Germany but the two elder Malfoy's wanted nothing of it. 'Grandma and Grampa was bad enough,' they explained, 'they didn't want some strange lingo being spewed at them.' The night Narcissa Malfoy had cornered Hermione in the kitchen and explained to her how to raise a child was the last straw.

"Well, aren't you just the perfect picture of parenting success," Hermione cursed, "If I remember correctly Draco was the most spoiled and childish baby oh wait 12 year old their was. His Daddy could make anything happen as long as he paid them to or wait scared them into doing it. Don't tell me how to raise my child Narcissa because Merlin knows your son almost landed in Azkaban because of your families ways. I don't know if you ever knew this but I'm the only reason he's not floating around, a body without a soul right now. Apparently the Wizengemot believes that I was speaking the truth and why shouldn't I have been, I'm part of the Golden Trio? I've had it with you, Draco, your husband," without another word Hermione pushed past Narcissa and made a beeline for the door. At the last second she remembered one final thing she wanted to get in, "I should have let him rot away in that hell because everything I said to the Wizengemot was a lie. He's as bad as they say he is."

The door was open and Hermione rushed out through the doorway but stopped cold when she saw the person who was standing outside the door, "Get out of my way Malfoy," she snapped. The name still slid off her tongue as if it had only been yesterday that she'd last said it.

He didn't protest or try to beg her to stay. The hurt in his eyes was evidence enough that he had heard her as he stepped aside to let her pass. His final gift to her.

It didn't take long for Hermione to pack of hers and Zelig's possessions and find her son who was playing with some toys beside the fire.

"Hey buddy," Hermione smiled, "Was denken Sie an das Zurückgehen nach Deutschland?" (3)

"Ja," he stood up and cheered, "In diesem Augenblick?" (4)

Hermione nodded and reached for her son. Zelig's back was to the door and so he didn't see Draco staring sadly on, Hermione did though and even after all that had happened it still broke her heart.

xxx.:.x.

A week after returning to Berlin Hermione received a long letter that she knew must have been from Draco. It cleared up a lot of stuff and made her positive that she'd made the right decision. That had also been aided by the fact the Zelig was ecstatic to return to the city. It was a city boy through and through. After reading the letter until the parchment became soft and the ink began to run from the tears that had pooled on its pages Hermione tucked it away into the bottom of her trunk. A place where it could be close to her but not close enough to cause her to much distraction. She did read it one final time though.

_Hermione, I hope this finds you and Zelig well wherever you are but I assume you have returned to Berlin. That place sure does make you two happy, like you were meant to be there. I know now that it was a mistake to force you to return to England. You weren't happy here and how were we supposed to save a marriage in a place where you could stand to be. The best bet would have been to stay in the place that took one less stress off your mind. I see that now, looking back on it just like I've come to realize a lot of things. _

_Maybe we were meant to be together, maybe we weren't. All I know is that my life feels like nothing will every be okay again but I deserve that. Before I go any farther I want to make sure you know that this is not an attempt at guilting you into coming back. That's the last thing I want you to do. I don't deserve a wonderful person like yourself and I certainly don't deserve to have Zelig in it either after the way I treated the poor child. I don't know what happened that last year. Maybe the stress of us falling apart but I'm ashamed to admit I took it out on him. I was harsh and impatient, something he really didn't deserve. That's why I won't come and try to see him. One day when he asks to see me I will be there with open arms, or when you see fit to welcome me back into his life. Until then I will wait. _

_Things haven't worked out for us but I'm asking you to give me another chance with our son. He does deserve to have a proper Father in his life and I hope I can make things up to him and show him that I'm not a bad 'Vati.' I know you probably never want to see my face again but all I'm asking for is when the time is right to accept me back into your lives as nothing more than the Father of your child and a person you can be civil around. For our son. Until then I'm sorry and I think you should know that I'll always love you. Maybe things didn't work out the way we always hoped but we accomplished some pretty great things and broke through some pretty rigid borders. I wouldn't change my life with you for anything and I hope when you look into our sons eyes you don't see all the bad stuff I did but remember the good times we had together. I'm sorry. D_

xxx.:.x.

After reading the letter over countless times Hermione stowed it away and didn't look at it again until Zelig had gone away to school.

Zelig asked about the whereabouts of his Father not ten minutes after Hermione had received the letter. He was told that Draco was in England.

Zelig never asked about his Father again until the summer before he went to school.

On the platform 9 3/4 Zelig was reunited with his Father while Hermione watched from a distance.

After the train departed Draco approached Hermione and they went out for coffee.

They have been friends ever since.

Draco never remarried but Hermione did during Zelig's third year.

They welcomed a baby girl into the world 8 months later.

xxx.:.x.

a/n whew done. I kinda started to panic at the end I thought I'd left it to open and starting into another story and that's not what I wanted. This story is now finished. Sorry to all those that wanted more. That's the reason for the ending like it was. I was trying to do the thing like in a movie after it ends and the words flash up to show you how everyone ended up. I don't know if it really works in this situation but for a lack of any other ideas and total exhaustion that's what you get. Please please review. One final shout out from all you readers that I love to hear from. Thank you so much for your support and I'm sorry this took a bit longer than it should have.

**Translations**

(1) Where are we going?

(2) Where is my broomstick?

(3) What do you think about going back to Germany?

(4) Yes, right now?


End file.
